Paradoxon [Kaeya x Reader]

10. Epilogue: Declaration

With a towel you wiped away the last water drops from your skin. After making sure you were mostly dry, you used the same towel to rid the mirror of all condensed water, so you could finally have a look at yourself.

Your hand touched the mirror, fingers meeting your reflection's fingers on the cold glass. Somehow it was still unrealistic that this woman, radiating happiness as well as maturity, was actually you. Though you didn't change a lot physically, the huge internal shift inside you throughout the last months was evident in your glow, in your aura. You did not despise the woman in front of you. Instead, you actually liked who you had become. One corner of your lips rose slightly as you half-smiled at yourself.

Your gaze caught the still slightly visible pink of rope marks on your raised hand's wrist and immediately blood rushed to your cheeks at the thought of what made them appear in the first place. After a step back you examined yourself as a whole in the mirror, you found similar faint marks on other body parts, as well as redness and bruising. Kaeya had been kind enough to stay in areas hidden from the public, safe for one spot which he seemed to enjoy greatly - your neck. At the crook of it there was a bite mark. Your finger ghosted over the red, still able to feel slight indentations. He really had not been gentle. You did not complain, however. The bruises were not ugly to you, no, you were proud for him to have left his marks on you, to prove that you were his.

After hanging up the towel to dry, you put on a light dress you wore primarily for sleeping and left the bathroom. You were in a small apartment, right at the edge in the city of Mondstadt. For you it was the best one to have, not too big and quite affordable, in a quiet part of the town. Most importantly, it had a balcony with a view on the land. Additionally, it was not far from the headquarter of the Knights of Favonius. Since you had joined them, you had been looking for another place to stay than the winery, and once you had seen this flat, you had known it was perfect. It made it easy to have Kaeya over frequently without having to listen to the bickering between him and his brother and gave you all the privacy you needed.

Right now, he wasn't in the bedroom, but you noticed the curtains dancing in the soft wind of the night. The door to the balcony was open. You stepped outside.

Kaeya sat on the floor, leaning his back against the wall and looking up into the sky. Once he heard your footsteps, he turned to you instead and scooted over to make room for you next to him. Quietly you sat down to his side and he snuck his arm across your shoulders to pull you closer, to which you happily agreed. The wind was a bit chilly, and for someone with a cryo vision, Kaeya was surprisingly warm.

"Hello, princess," he said to you. His free hand snatched your wrist and he brought it to his lips to give it a gentle kiss. With an embarrassed laugh you tried to pull your hand back, but he didn't let you.

"Kaeya," you responded as his thumb softly grazed over the marks in your skin. You leaned your head on his shoulder and after a few moments of comfortable silence, you spoke again. "I've never... given myself to somebody like that. Like today. So entirely."

It was true. Every time he had silently asked for permission, you had given him a nod. You had let him go further than you had ever expected you would, then you had even realized was possible. Excitement and trust had been the reasons. And he had rewarded you with the most blissful feelings for that.

"Well," Kaeya said, "I've never had someone let me take over control as much as you did you just now. And you loved it." He shot you a dirty smirk and your face flushed. Then he let out a slight laugh. "It looks like you weren't lying when you said you trust me."

"Obviously, I wasn't!" You were slightly, playfully offended, but then switched to serious talk again, eyeing him from the side. "Does that mean you finally accept it? That I trust you?"